Suniel Shetty, a renowned Bollywood actor, was born in August, 1961 in Mulki, India. His relatives and close friends know him by the name ‘Anna’. He is an actor, producer and a TV presenter. He is well known for his action films. His first film was ‘Balwaan’ which established him as an action hero. He became popular with his film ‘Mohra’ where he played the character of Vishal in this action packed film. Some of his noted films are: Dilwale (1994), an action film, ‘Border’ (1997), a film about the India-Pakistan war in 1971, ‘Hera Pheri’ (2000), a comedy and ‘Dhadkan’ (2000), a romantic drama. He acted in a Tamil movie also. He also appeared in the English movie ‘Don’t Stop Dreaming’ in 2007.

Besides acting, he also produced a number of films from his production house ‘Popcorn Motion Pictures’. These include: ‘Bhagam Bhag’, a comedy, ‘Rakht’, an Indian supernatural horror film and ‘Khel-No Ordinary Game’, an action film. Many of his early movies performed average at the box office. The turning point of his career was the movie ‘Anth’ in 1996. ‘Dhadkan’, ‘Hera Pheri’ and ‘Phir Hera Pheri’ were his major successes. He formed the image of an action hero at the beginning of his career. Later, he shifted his attention to comedy movies. People loved his performance in the comedy movies as well. He received a number of awards for his outstanding performance. He received Filmfare Award for Best Villain for his film ‘Dhadkan’. He won the best actor award in the South Asia International Film Festival for the movie Red ‘Alert: The War Within’. He also won ‘GIFA’ Best Villain Award for ‘Main Hoon Na’. Among all his films, ‘Dev’ in Dhadkan is his favorite character.

He hosted the TV show ‘Biggest Loser Jeetega’ aired on Sahara One channel. He is the captain of celebrity cricket team Mumbai Heroes. He runs a couple of businesses including clothing boutique named ‘Mischief’ and a restaurant as well. He is a Black Belt holder in kick boxing. Suniel’s wife Mana Shetty runs an NGO. He has two children named Aahan and Athiya. Suniel is known to be very friendly and simple person and so is extremely liked by his peers in the film industry. He is a very good friend of Sanjay Dutt, a leading actor of Hindi Cinema. On screen, his bond with Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal are well accepted by the audience. Suniel is a major WWE Wrestling fan.

Another Version of This Bio:

Known as Bollywood’s action hero in 1990s, he had made debut in Hindi film with Balwaan (1992). He was always seen cast with Akshay Kumar and both were cast in innumerable films which changed the action hero’s image in Hindi cinema. Though he was a Mangalorean, he never made his acting debut in Kannada film. His first success came with Mohra (1994) which was a super hit. He acted in more than 110 films so far. Yet he could not make it big and became an under-rated actor later on. While Akshay Kumar moved ahead with his success, Suniel Shetty was left far behind, as he could not market himself as an actor like Akshay Kumar. He portrayed even an anti-hero character in Hindi cinema and was awarded the Filmfare trophy for his performance in Dhadkan, where he was cast with Shilpa Shetty. In this film, he played the role of a rejected lover of Shilpa, who wants to take revenge on Shipa’s husband (Akshay Kumar).

Suniel wanted to always become a cricketer, but unwillingly switched his focus to Bollywood. After Dhadkan and Balwaan, Waqt Hamara Hai followed. Many of his critics labeled him as stereotype actor suitable for action genre films, but he went on to do some light-hearted comedy roles in Hulchul, Hera Pheri and De Dana Dan, which did great business. He had tried to break his image of an action hero, by doing comedy and even patriotic roles which came to him in films such as LOC Kargil, Refugee and so on. This actor had managed to get a huge appreciation for brilliant comic timing and sense of humour in film Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar. He later set up his own production company called Popcorn Motion Pictures Ltd, which produced Priaydarshan’s blockbuster movie Bhagam Bhag. The production company had made six successful films in a row. He is also a successful businessman who owns some hotels too.

He has even acted in a Tamil (12B) and English film (Don’t stop Dreaming). Suneil Shetty’s daughter Athiya Shetty has already made her debut in Bollywood with Hero (2015), and now his son Aahan Shetty is planning to make his entry in Hindi films.